Archive for the ‘Hope’ Category

Today is another day. A day full of choices. We can gloat in victory or drown in our sorrows in response to the election results, or we can choose to believe in who God is. Regardless of whether or not your candidate won last night, we can’t let individual preference or fear divide us. In a climate of hate or strife, let’s choose love. Let’s check ourselves continually to ensure that our thoughts and speech build one another up, that what we say and think is honoring to God and to one another. As followers of Christ, it’s imperative that we keep ourselves in check to ensure we’re promoting unity instead of contributing to the worldly divisiveness we see so much of in our country right now. It’s not about who our president is. It’s about who we are as followers of Christ, first and foremost, and who we are as Americans. Christians are ambassadors of…

Jesus turned this world on its head. Things people thought they knew crumbled in light of His teaching. The first are the last. The greatest is the least. The rich are the poor. Life is found in death. Strength is found in weakness. Second Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” You see, our weaknesses do not negate our strength. It’s not about ridding ourselves of all our weaknesses, but allowing our weaknesses to become our strength. Allowing God to become our strength. I still have weaknesses. LOTS and LOTS of weaknesses….

I looked up the word resilience a few weeks ago. I was preparing for a speaking engagement I had coming up on the topic, and this is what I found: resilience noun | re·sil·ience | \ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s\ : the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens : the ability of something to return to its original shape after it has been pulled, stretched, pressed, bent, etc. Resilience is often prized. I’d venture to say that every one of us would like to be resilient. But what if we could be more than resilient? I must admit I was a bit disappointed with this definition. I had honestly thought resilience was something greater than this. The moment I read this definition, I found myself challenging the notion that we’re to become strong again or healthy again or successful again when something bad happens. I began challenging the…

I finally finished my baby girl’s adoption video! Be sure to watch this incredible story of God’s faithfulness. What a crazy long, wonderfully messy, immensely beautiful and difficult journey it was!! We are super blessed to finally have our baby girl HOME! I pray our story blesses you… Having trouble viewing the video? Watch it on YouTube instead!

We are HOME!!! It’s hardly believable but after all these years of waiting and waiting and waiting, we finally have our little girl home from Uganda! It has been a long hard road that my family and I have had to travel to come into this promise, but with every twist and turn, every obstacle to overcome, we have seen God’s sovereignty lead us, teach us, and grow us in ways that would have never been had the road been quick and easy. There are moments that I just can’t help but wonder how it is that I get to be this little one’s momma. This little girl whose eyes dance and sparkle with each joyful smile and giggle. This sweet girl who quite literally exuded the joy of the Lord. She is ours, forever ours to love and raise up in the Lord as our own. I have once again witnessed the goodness of our…

“Be strong,” I heard Jesus whisper to my anxious heart. “Continue the work I’ve called you to.” I had come up against some pretty significant resistance, some stuff that had the potential to thwart all I had been working toward for three years, and for whatever reason, it had hit me hard. “I am with you,” Jesus continued. “Do not be afraid. Do not allow your circumstances to derail My plan for your life. Press in and press on….” “But Lord,” I prayed in desperation, “What if the enemy succeeds? What if I’m overcome by the opposition? What if I go down?” “I’ve prepared you for this,” He whispered. “Be bold as a lion. Do not give up!” “But what if I’ve gotten it all wrong?” I wondered. “What if I’m wrong?” I felt like I was on the verge of a faith crisis. Like at any moment, my faith…

Jesus is on the throne, now and forever. It seems I’ve been reminded of this continually lately. Life’s circumstances have clouded my vision a bit, but with this simple reminder, I have consistently been brought back to the truth. Troubles lose their weight when we see and believe this reality deep within our souls. This truth gives us a heavenly perspective on the circumstances we face and allows us the ability to endure trials with confident assurance that our God is in control. Now, I cannot pretend to know all the reasons why God allows difficulties into our lives, but when confronted with them, I often think about what Paul wrote to the church in Philippi. He said, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance…

Last week, I wrote about how important it is to engage in the pursuit to know God. About how we can use a Biblically accurate understanding of who God is to see the world and ourselves as they truly are. All truth, remember, begins and ends with God. There is, of course, so much to know about our God. Truly, we will never be able to fully grasp all that He is, and I think that’s okay. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a God who is able to be fully grasped by a mind limited by humanity. I love how J.I. Packer put it. He said, “A God whom we could understand exhaustively, and whose revelation of Himself confronted us with no mysteries whatsoever, would be a God in man’s image, and therefore an imaginary God, not the God of the Bible at all.” But God does reveal Himself to both…

Hello friends! I’d like to invite you to join me on Joni Table Talk today at 2am, 7am, and 8:30pm EST on Daystar! If you aren’t able to make any of those times, be sure to catch it On Demand by clicking here. And, if you’re open to helping me spread the word about the message I’ve been given, I’d be forever grateful if you’d consider sharing this episode on your social media channels or by word of mouth! Thank you! Have a fabulously wonderful day! Blessings, Laurie P.S. If you have any thoughts, I’d love for you to join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter!

I’m super excited to share some incredible news on the heels of the article I recently wrote called, Living Victoriously in the Messy Middle. What I’m about to share serves as an example to what was written in that article, particularly the point I made about doubts. So anyway, here’s the news! The Coombs Family adoption has taken a bit of a twist. Just under a month ago, my husband Travis said, “If God wants us to adopt, He’s gonna have to drop something in our lap.” Famous last words, it seems. Not more than a few days later, it happened. A wonderful little bundle of joy was dropped in our lap. A baby girl, only a few weeks old, in Uganda. For those of you just tuning in, we’ve been pursuing an adoption in Ethiopia for the past five years, not Uganda. Hence, the twist of this incredibly wonderful, yet immensely difficult, faith-testing journey….